1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to outdoor cooking devices and cooking accessories and more particularly to an outdoor cooker that is supplied with a source of gaseous fuel such as butane or propane from a canister and that can optionally include a pot and pot liner, the improvement including a special configuration of a multi-section heat shield that protects an underlying support (e.g. wood deck or table) when a user foolishly places the burner on a combustible or heat sensitive surface (for example, wood, paper, or plastic).
2. General Background of the Invention
A number of outdoor cookers have been sold commercially for a number of years and are admitted as “prior art” type burners. These “prior art” burners have traditionally included a metallic frame that supports a burner nozzle, such as a cast iron burner nozzle. Such burner nozzles are commercially available and are often a component part of natural gas fired hot water heaters.
Recently, U.S. Pat. No. 6,957,649 issued to Norman Bourgeois (applicant herein) that features a cooking apparatus having a burner with a heat shield that is designed to prevent heat damage to an underlying support surface that is selected by a user.
Recently, U.S. Pat. No. 6,957,649 issued to Norman Bourgeois entitled “Gas Fired Outdoor Cooking Apparatus”, the burner in that patent having a shield that reflects burner heat away from an underlying support surface (e.g. floor or deck).
Patents have issued naming Norman Bourgeois (applicant herein) as inventor that relate to burners and related cooking apparatus. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,735 for a “Convertible Burner Apparatus” that features different primary burner frames and legs that can elevate the burner frames. Other patents that relate to cooking devices include the aforementioned, and the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,335,375; 1,671,677; 1,679,567; 1,859,615; 2,355,948; 2,414,679; 2,485,774; 5,065,735; 5,758,569; 5,813,321; 5,970,852; 6,058,830; 6,314,869; 6,439,107, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The burner nozzle can be a cast iron hot water heater type burner nozzle or a jet burner arrangement that uses a single orifice or outlet centered in a cylindrically-shaped, vertically oriented metallic tube. Probably the most common version of the prior art “jet burner” arrangement is seen in Metal Fusion's catalog as Model No. 90PK. Another version of this type of cooker includes two spaced apart circular rings connected with struts and having a cylindrically-shaped wind guard or shroud. This type of prior art burner can be seen for example as Metal Fusion Model Nos. 82PK, 83PK, 85PK, 86PK, and 86PKJ. A prior art portable propane outdoor cooker, various outdoor fryers, and other outdoor cookers and related accessories are shown on the Metal Fusion website (www.KingKooker.com). A common prior art outdoor cooker is shown on this website as the “Portable Propane Outdoor Jet Cooker”.
One of the problems with outdoor cookers is the unfortunate and foolish user that places the burner on a combustible or heat sensitive surface such as a wooden deck, wooden table, plastic table, plastic deck or on newspaper that is spread on a table, floor, etc. If the burner is operated at a very high intensity for a period of time over a dry combustible such as a deck or table, damage or fire could result.